Advent 3 - John the Baptist's "double vision"
Philippians 4: 4-7, Luke 3: 7-18 Well, it’s been quite a week – Brexit & politics & the Strictly final - and Christmas just over a week away. I wonder how you feel about John the Baptist’s ‘least Christmassy message of joy’ from the gospel reading. Saint Paul says “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!” John the Baptist shouts “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”. But I want to suggest that it is John who has the message we need to hear. The world is a mess, personally, politically, environmentally, and instead of retreating into an alternative world of Christmas cheer where everything is merry and bright or ignoring the reality of the world and shutting ourselves away, we need real Christmas hope - something which changes forever the way we see our world and everything in it. A few years ago I went to an Advent Carol service in Winchester Cathedral. It was organized to celebrate the 70 th birthday of Christi